May 5 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s job approval
rating rose by 6 points after U.S. forces killed terrorist
mastermind Osama bin Laden, according to a Quinnipiac University
poll.

The survey found 52 percent of U.S. voters approving of
Obama’s performance in office, the highest level for him in two
years and 6 points higher than the 46 percent rating he received
from those surveyed in the days before he announced bin Laden’s
death late on May 1.

Those disapproving of the president’s performance declined
to 40 percent following the attack that killed bin Laden in
Pakistan, down from 48 percent right before the raid.

Obama plans today to travel to New York to meet with
families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by
terrorists belonging to the al-Qaeda that bin Laden commanded.

The president received a similar boost in the CBS News-New
York Times poll taken May 2-3, in which 57 percent approved of
his job performance, up from 46 percent last month.

The Quinnipiac poll shows a jump in Obama’s standing among
independents, with 47 percent of those surveyed May 2-3
approving of his performance, up from 41 percent of those
interviewed April 26-May 1.

Second Term

The raid also improved voter attitudes toward his 2012 re-election bid. After bin Laden’s death, 46 percent of those
surveyed said he deserved a second term, with 42 percent saying
he didn’t. Before the the raid, 48 percent said the president
shouldn’t be re-elected while 45 percent said he should.

“The number of people opposed to his re-election has
dropped, although they seem to have moved to the undecided
rather than to the pro-Obama column,” said Peter Brown,
assistant director of the Hamden, Connecticut-based polling
institute.

Fifty-one percent of voters surveyed May 2-3 approved of
Obama’s handling of foreign policy, an increase from the 43
percent rating he received from those polled April 26-May 1. His
approval ratings on his handling of the war in Afghanistan also
rose to 59 percent from 41 percent.

His approval ratings remained static on his handling of the
economy. In the wake of bin Laden’s death, 38 percent approved
of his record on the economy, virtually unchanged from the 37-percent approval rating he received prior to the raid. Those
disapproving of his handling of the economy remained unchanged
at 57 percent.

“Voters have upped their opinion of the president’s
handling of national security matters,” Brown said. “But they
have not changed their minds about his stewardship of the
economy.”

Quinnipiac surveyed 834 registered voters May 2-3 and the
findings had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.4 percentage
points. Another 1,409 registered voters were polled April 26-May
1 with an error margin of 2.6 percentage points.